Does anyone know how to search for files in a particular directory that do NOT contain a particular word, either capitalized or lower case?
I have a pile of several thousand files that I want to purge of files that do NOT contain a particular word, so I can delete them. Just about any software program would work for me, though I'm not up to speed on Spotlight; I don't know how to limit the search to a specific folder.
Thanks.
MacBook Pro
I'm sorry, but I don't understand exactly what you mean. I know what Finder is, but how do you "tell" it to do something? Unless you're referring to Smart Folders; I started playing with them just the other day. I'll check and see if it has a "does not contain" setting.
Thanks.
OK, I think I get it...
I found AppleScript in Utilities. I want to test this before I delete anything, so I changed your code to this:
tell application "Finder"
find (every file of folder Trash_Recovery that does not contain "physiology")
end tell
I want to find files in a folder on my external hard drive named Trash_Recovery (external hard drive/Storage/Trash_Recovery) that does not contain the word "physiology." So I opened a Finder window and navigated to Trash Recovery. When I ran AppleScript, I got the following message:
Expected expression but found "does not"
I assume that means I haven't written the script correctly.
Use:
tell application "Finder"
select (every file of folder Trash_Recovery that does not contain "physiology")
end tell
If desired, delete the selected files manually instead of having the script do it. I tested the script before I posted it.
(72297)
Weird, I copied your code and pasted it into AppleScript, then I opened another Find window and navigated to Trash_Recovery. But when I go back to AppleScript and click the Run arrow, I still get this message...
Expected expression but "does not"
I'll see if I can track that error down on Google. I must be doing something wrong. Thanks.
I must be confused; I'm not trying to find or delete files that are NAMED Physiology.php; I want to find files that do not contain the word "physiology." The code you gave me looks right (or what I'd expect)...
tell application "Finder"
select (every file of folder Trash_Recovery that does not contain "physiology")
end tell
I don't see how or where I would insert "whose name" in that code. However, I tried the following:
tell application "Finder"
select (every file of folder Trash_Recovery whose name does not contain "physiology")
end tell
I got the error message "The variable Trash_Recovery is not defined."
This AppleScript thing is exciting, though; I didn't even know it existed!
Use an AppleScript such as:
tell application "Finder"
delete (every file of window 1 whose name does not contain "a")
end tell
(72294)
Open the AppleScript Editor, paste the text in, put that folder into the frontmost Finder window, and run the script.
(72296)
I just tried Smart Folder and when I click "Contents" I don't see any settings for does NOT contain a particular word.
Sorry, I didn't see your last post until now; I'll give that a try. Thanks!
You omitted 'whose name' in the script you ran.
(72298)
Open the folder as described and run:
tell application "Finder"
select (every file of window 1 whose name does not contain "physiology")
end tell
without making any further edits to the script.
(72299)
I ran it, and it says...
document file "Recovery.savedSearch" of folder "Trash_Recovery" of disk "Storage" of application "Finder"
Negative Search (does NOT contain)
